


Babel.

by Rose_Ann



Category: Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Bromance to Romance, Communication Failure, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Jealous Raphael, M/M, Oblivious Simon, Saphael, Season 1, Slow Build, Vampire Raphael, Vampire Simon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 09:50:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6653047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_Ann/pseuds/Rose_Ann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being turned into a vampire Simon feels cast away from his old life. Seeking shelter inside the Hotel Dumort, he creates an improbable alliance with his former tormentor, and now maker, Raphael Santiago.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The beginning of the end.

**Author's Note:**

> While reading the books I was never really into saphael, but the show really changed this conception. The actors do have a lot of chemistry, and they make quite a good pair, slash or not. This fic will be posted in chapters and will wrap up with the canon end of season 1. The ratings will change with the course of the fic. smut will most likely happen, but I'm not quite sure yet. Fell free to leave any comments, suggestions, and correct any mistakes I made since this fic has no beta.  
> If you like, come hang out with me on tumblr:  
> http://theindigorose.tumblr.com/
> 
> Hope you all enjoy it. <3

Simon stared at the well decorated wall in front of him. His head was spinning, and he couldn’t for the life of him find a way to ground himself. Not even 48 hours ago he was dead and buried inside a shallow grave dig by some of his friends. When he woke up, covered in dirt and blinded by bloodlust, he saw him, his tormentor, his maker. The cooper touched his tongue and it was like drinking from the source of life itself. Clary’s lips were moving desperately while Jace tried to hold her in place. Stop her from getting too close to danger. He’d ask her to keep her distance, to stay away from him and she had cry as she did so many time before he would hold her in his arms and console her. But this time it was Jace’s arms that held her in place and made her feel safe. Something in his stomach was getting tither, angry, and it wasn’t just jealousy. His vision was tainted blood-red, and to protect her he ran away as fast as his new abilities allowed him.  
Raphael then appeared to him sometime after he’d stop running. Had he been there all along? Was he following him around town? Where was him exactly? He didn’t know. It didn’t matter really, he didn’t want to see anyone, especially Raphael of all people. Because of him he had been kidnapped and then bitten by Camille. The name itself felt like acid on his tongue, and ran down his throat eating away his body from the inside out. The whole world was spinning around him, and he just wanted everything to stop.

  "Simon…stop running. I can’t help you if you keep this up…"

Simon looked at him with nothing but anger on his eyes. Raphael had to know what he did to him. How it felt.

  "Help me? You think you are helping me with any of this?"

  "Simon, listen to me…"

  "Don’t you dare tell me what to do! You ruined my life…You’re a monster…"

Raphael tried to look away, but Simon’s direct stare made it impossible. The boy hated him, it was easy to see. He knew better than anyone how it felt to be confused and alone. An abandoned new born trying to piece together a painful puzzle tainted with blood. But just as Magnus helped him when he first turned, he promised to one day help someone in the same position. He saw the exact moment when something changed in Simon, like he had just realized the extent of his condition.

  "If you are a monster, this means that….I am a monster too…"

And it finally hit Simon like a tidal wave on a shore: he was a monster now. A vile creature lurking in the shadows waiting for an unsuspecting victim to attack. His life was never going to be the same. Everything that he once hoped for and dreamed of, was now gone. Like and old house on the hills, slowly being pushed to the cliff but the wind. Gradual, slowly, but just as devastating.

  "Simon?"

Raphael’s voice brought him back from his thoughts and once more to his unsettling new reality. He was now the brand new resident of the Hotel Dumort, the home of the New York Vampire clan, and of its leader, Raphael Santiago, his maker.

  "What do you wish of me, my sire?"

He said in a mocking tone, and using the term he had just learned from one of his vampire peers. Raphael’s blood brought him back from the dead, and sparked his whole body with life. Or whatever that was that kept him moving from now on. The same body that now was overflowing with sensations. Raphael’s blood in him made it difficult to ignore the other man, and everything he did. They shared the same vital force, and the little pulse they had flowed the same way.

  "I see that you’ve been talking to the others."

He didn’t answer.

  "I wanted to talk to you…See how you were doing."

  "I will go and say not so good! I died than came back to life, as a vampire if I might add. My mom and my sister both hate me, Clary is afraid of me, and quite frankly everything sucks!!"

Raphael tried to contain himself, but a husky laughter still managed to escape his lips. Simon was a delightful little creature. Not even all the events that happened to him in the past days could take away his sarcastic rhetoric. He was staring at Raphael with a puzzled look on his face, and he thought it was for the best to dismiss it. For now.

  "Is everything here to your liking?"

  "The furniture doesn’t match the color of the walls, and all this tacky decoration clashes with the architecture of the place."

He said in an attempt to piss Raphael off. In all honesty he thought that the decoration was just fine. Although some change in the color of the walls would not be such a bad idea.

  "Nice try, but Camille was the one who did all the designing and decorating."

  "Figures she would have such a tacky taste..."

He said giving Raphael a pointed look from head to toe.

  "She sure did. She thought that you were adorable, remember?"

  "Why are you even here? Just leave me alone, ok?"

Raphael started to walk towards the door, but suddenly decided not to. Instead he approached Simon and sat in front of him, in one of Camille’s beloved 18th century accent chairs.

  "I just wanted to tell you that I didn’t mean for any of this to happen to you, and I’m sorry. None of this is fair. Lo siento. I will leave you now…"

Raphael got up to leave Simon alone like he asked him to, but the younger vampire’s voice stopped him midway.

  "I’m sorry too."

Raphael turned to face him, but Simon decided to look away.

  "I know that this wasn’t really your fault. When I first got back I… I couldn’t really remember things. It was all confused inside my head, but I remember better now. It was her that did this to me. Not you."

  
Looking at Simon now, with the tears starting to form on his eyes, he saw a reflection of himself a few decades ago. A painful reminder of how devastating the change could be. He too felt lost and cheated, like there was no one else beside him, no one to mend his broken pieces together. He knew how it was like to be cast away from everything you knew and loved, and convicted to a life of loneliness. Like God himself had conjured an immense Tower of Babel around him, and he could no longer understand anyone else. But years then decades of living taught him that even the most tragic of fates, might someday feel like a blessing. He just hoped that Simon could see this too. Before bitterness would poison his heart, and Simon as he was would cease to exist. He realized then that he was staring, and Simon’s slightly blushing cheeks showed that he had realize too.

  "So, when do I get my Dracula cape?"

Raphael couldn’t his laughter. Maybe Simon still had a chance to remain like himself, even when his abilities had settle completely. The older vampire thought that he would very much like to discover Simon’s personality to its full extent. But they had time for that. This was only the beginning.


	2. Something borrowed, something blue.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon starts to sneak out of the Hotel every night, and only comes back when its almost morning. Curious, Raphael decides to follow him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone, how r u doing? The saphael ship its getting bigger and I can't wait to read all the new fics that come out every day!  
> Hope you like this chapter as well.  
> As always, all mistakes are mine, and I own nothing but the clothes in my body and some books on my shelf.  
> If you like, come hang out with me on tumblr:  
> http://theindigorose.tumblr.com/
> 
> Fell free to comment. <3

Simon was sitting in the top of a small hill, locate right in front a small house complex. His mind was wondering a thousand miles away as the night began to pass slowly. He’d been there for ours now, just sitting and waiting for the moment to see her walk through that door.

“So is here that you come every night then?”

Simon didn’t seen surprise to find Raphael by his side. His instincts were getting better and he sensed his sire’s presence moments before he presented himself.

“Are you stalking me, Raphael?” He asked without removing his eyes from the house.

“I’m simply stopping you from getting into any trouble!”

“Stalking it is then!”

Against his own better judgment, Raphael sat on the ground beside him.

“Who’s house is this anyway? A former flame perhaps?”

“It’s my house.” He said almost before the question itself was made. “It was my house, I mean. My mom and my sister still live here, so I guess is their house…”

“You miss them.” It wasn’t a question.

Simon simply kept staring at the window. It didn’t take a genius to realize that he missed his family. Terribly.  Once again Raphael knew that feeling all too well. He would give all the fortune that he acquired throughout those decades to see his mother once again. To feel her warm and reassuring embrace.

“Why don’t you go and talk to them?”

“And say what? Hey mom, guess what, I’m immortal now! K, bye!”

“Technically we cannot say that we are immortal, because we can actually be killed. And also there just no way to actually measure immortality, for one had to live to the end of time, and forever is an infinite concept. There’s just no way to verify that. I do, however, like to say that we are _imperishable…_ ”

“Yeah, I can’t say that to my mom either. She will think that I turned into food.”

Raphael laughed lightly. Simon sure had a weird sense of humor, but he was starting to get it. To get him.  Simon was the kind of person that needed something, or someone to ground himself. In the 70´s he had met a lovely and vivid young woman that told him everything about the zodiac signs, and how a person’s behavior could be entirely explained but how the planets and starts were aligned in the moment they were born.  She would probably say that he was an earth type; stable, loyal and well grounded. The type that most likely would make a great friend, _or a great partner,_ a part of himself thought.

“I do get what you mean though. I just…I never thought that vampires had this kind of line of thinking.” He swallowed dry. “You…you are way less arrogant than I assumed you to be.”

“Well, well, well…baby’s first compliment!”

Apparently even the afterlife didn’t stop someone from blushing, since Simon began to feel the slightly warmth of fresh blood rushing through his skin. 

“Don’t call me that!”, he hissed.

“What?”, Raphael raised a curious eyebrow.

“You know…b.baby…” Simon said in a whisper. “It makes me feel…”

“ _Te hace sentir_ …”

Raphael was staring at him with a look that he could simply not comprehend, and suddenly any trace of thought simply vanished from his brain. Like magic.

A sudden noise inside the house startle them and both vampires turned their attention to the window.

“It’s my sister…” Simon said with a huge smile across his face. “I haven’t seen here in like a month!”

Raphael chuckled.

“It’s not that much time to be without someone.”

“It is when you didn’t think you were ever going to see them again…”

The older vampire sighed. All Simon’s feelings were still too close to the surface, all his cuts too fresh, it was better to give him some time.

“You know…when we were kids we used to bet to see who could hold their breath the longest.” He laughed. “She knew she could win, but I guess that most of the time she only wanted to see how much I could take. My face would get so dark, that she used to say that when she got married, I was going to be her “something borrowed something blue”.”

“It’s sweet…I think. Or maybe not, since you could have died like a couple of times…”

“No, it wasn’t that bad, really. I just have a lot a blue veins I guess…”

Raphael stared at his skin as if he was trying to verify the true in that statement.  He didn’t find any extremely blue veins like Simon said. He did find a constellation of honey-colored moles adorning a pale milky sky. He briefly wondered how it would be see it glistening in sunlight, but soon after regretted the thought, as for it would never come true.

“Do I have something on my face or…?” He asked upon realizing that Raphael was staring at him.

Raphael cleared his throat.

“Not really. I was just trying to see if you and your sister looked alike? Is she younger than you? She looks rather young…”

“She’s older actually. 5 years.”

Both vampires feel into a somewhat comfortable silence. Simon looking at his family going by their night routines, but sometimes stopping to stare at the moon instead. Raphael had already realized that he had an extremely short attention span, going from one subject or task to another in a heartbeat.

“She’s in your room.” Raphael mentioned sometime after they had stopped talking.

Simon’s whole body seemed to shift in an uncomfortable, almost defeated way upon seeing his sister sitting on his bed, staring at the blank walls. She missed him too, and by the looks of it, just as much as he missed her. He wanted nothing more than run inside the house and hold his family again, tell them that it would all be ok, and he would never leave again. Except he couldn’t, it would be a lie, and he had promised his mom not to lie to her any longer. So Simon decided that the best next choice was to not say anything at all. If they didn’t know what it was going on in his life, they would not suffer worrying about the dangers he was putting himself on. He was better off dead. To his family, to his friends, even to Clary. She had Jace now, and there was no way he could ever compete with the Shadowhunter. Jace was steady and strong, when Simon was insecure and weak. Even his new condition didn’t make any substantial chance in the scenario. If anything it probably made it much worse. Now they belonged to different words. Like a twisted tale of Romeo and Juliet with magic runes and bloody hands.

“What is she doing?” The older vampire asked pointing at the window in front of them.

“She does that sometimes…” He said without moving his eyes from the skyline. “I think she’s waiting for me to come home. They both are…”

“ _Simon_ …” Raphael’s voice was low and gentle now.

“She’s going to get married, you know?” He said trying to hide his face and the beginning of tears.

“Most mundanes are going to in some point of their lives!”

Raphael attempt of a joke showed results, and soon after Simon gave away a small laugh. Only audible for his ears.

“I mean soon! She got engaged and everything…”

“That is good for her, no?”

“I think she’s having second thoughts…because of me.”

Raphael stared at him with a confused look on his face.

“She would always say that she would only get married if I was the one to give her away, you know? Walk her down the aisle for everyone to see. And I won’t get to do that…”

\------------------

Clary and Simon were sitting on his bed in his new bedroom inside the Hotel Dumort as they talked about Simon’s transition. He was afraid that she would look at him differently after she’d see him feeding when he first got back. Clary definitely had seen him in his best and his worst, so it spoke volumes to him that her loyalty still remained by his side.  

“So, how is life in here?” She said while looking around. “Kinda sunless I believe, hu?”

“Surprisingly is not as bad as I thought. Do you know that is a guy in here that worked with Picasso before he was really famous. He trained with him and his father, something like that.”

“Picasso?”

“No, the guy. Juan is his name. He’s a really good artist as well. I think you would like his work!”

“Have you made friends with many of the people here?”

“Not so much. Mostly I spend my time with Raphael. He says that is this early stages it’s not really safe for me and the others for me to wander around…Might get into trouble!”

“This does seem like you!” She laughed. “But are you in good terms with daddy dearest?

Simon just gives her a strange look, like he has no idea what she is talking about.

“You know…Raphael…your maker, or whatever!”

Simon laughed. Raphael would kill her, him and all their future descendants if he found out that she called him that. He would not be happy at all.

“Actually, they call it Sire! And for the love of G-“ He chocked. “I still can’t say it, but just never let him hear you calling him that?”

Clary looked at him in a goofy mischievous way.

“What? Daddy Dearest?”

“Clary…” He said prolonging her name, but not meaning anything really serious by it. He knew that she was kidding.

“Don’t Clary me, he is old enough to be you father! He just doesn’t look like it…”

He laughed at her comment.

“All this vampire thing is very confusing. There’s a girl in here, Annie is her name, she looks like she’s 11 or something, but actually she’s almost as old as Raph! I’m sorry, but that’s just creepy!”

“Raph?”, She said like she meant something by it, but Simon just couldn’t get it.

“What about him?”

“You called him Raph, not Raphael…Are we on the nickname basis already?”

Simon tried hard not to blush once more. He hadn’t realized that he called him that. Had he done that before? Did he even think about Raphael as a friend already? Friend or not, Raphael did save his life in many occasions, even when he had a lot to lose by doing it. But he did kidnap him in the first place, so maybe what he did was out of guilt.

“No, no…everyone around him calls him that! You know…all the vamps!”

He cursed himself for his choice of words, especially because Clary, knowing him as she did, it was easy to tell how nervous he got.

“Strange…he doesn’t seem like the kind of person that lets others get that close to him.”

Clary was definitely right about that. Even some of the clan members that had known him for decades were treated like nothing more than acquaintances, some even as strangers. Looking it from this perspective, what made him think that he and Raphael could also call each other friends? Maybe they were even less than strangers. As soon as Raphael’s guilt finally ceased, he would began treating him like any other vampire of his clan. He was their leader, and they were nothing more than his followers.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” Raphael asked as he entered the room. “Why was I not notified that the orange-haired _Nephilim_ was here?”

Simon could see his sire putting away a small volume on the inside pocket of his surprisingly tailored leather jacket, but choose not to mention it.

“Hum…I didn’t think I had to?” He asked, unsure of himself. “I mean…she was only in my room, so I didn’t think that it had any problem. We weren’t wondering around the hotel or anything…”

“I think you haven’t learned your place in this clan yet, _mi querido!”_ He said with poison in his tongue. “I am the leader of this clan, and _nothing_ happens without my knowledge and permission! I sincerely hope that you remember that from now on!”   

 _You are nothing more than strangers._ Something inside Simon told him over and over again like a painful mantra. He shouldn’t get his hopes up when it came to Raphael.  Maybe some people weren’t meant to be friends. Maybe they weren’t meant to be nothing at all.

“Simon, maybe I should leave!” Clary said getting up from the bed, and facing Raphael. “I will call you later, ok?”

Simon got up and she hugged him goodbye. Simon missed that hug. In all honest Simon missed any type of physical contact. After the change everyone was walking in eggshells around him. Too afraid to make anything to set his newborn vampire rage. Luke was the only one that treated him the same, being someone that went through what he is going right now. Still, mighty leader or not, Raphael had no right to treat him and the people that he loved like that. He was losing sight of everything he wanted. Of everything he loved.

“So Simon…do you have anything to say for yourself?” He stood in front of the younger vampire and noticed that he had a strange look on his face.

“Maybe I should live this place…” He said in a whisper.

“¿Qué?” He said while entering Simon’s personal space.

Raphael stood so close to Simon, that he could see the small, almost invisible freckles in the other vampire’s face. His long eyelashes curled around black holes of eyes.

“It’s just…I don’t belong in here…I…”?

“And where do you belong Simon?” He interrupted. “With her?” Raphael’s voice was steady but filled with anger.

“I don’t…I don’t know, ok? Maybe not, but Luke offered me a place to stay if I ever needed one…”

“A place to stay, with him?” He mocked.

“I’m werewolf ambassador, don’t you remember?”

“There is no place for you amongst _werewolves_!”

And this, this made Simon really angry. He had known Luke since he was a kid, and he always treated both him and Clary like he was their father. Raphael had no right to talk about him like he was just some random stranger.

“Luke is not just a _werewolf_ to me, he is _family._ And none of this feels like it!”

Simon had enough with all of Raphael’s hypocritical bullshit. He walked pass him, bumping in his shoulder, and into the door. He needed to clear his head, and get away from all that.

“Simon, do not dare to walk away from me!”

“I am not your fucking servant! None of us are!”.

\----------------------

The sun had just gone down, and Simon was once more on his usual spot. His sister had just got back from work, and since he could not see her inside her room, he figured that she was somewhere in the kitchen doing her dinner. In most days they would just order takeout, but lately he noticed that she was making more of an effort in cooking. Maybe she wanted to cheer up their mom by making a homemade meal, something that she always loved.

“So here you are again!” Raphael said as he approached the younger vampire.

“Oh, no, I was discovered!” He said in a mocking yet hurt tone. “You could have your own vampire investigation firm… The nightwalkers, could be the name! I see a real future for you!”

“Simon…Do not speak to me like this. I am you…”

“My what?” He began. “My maker? My sire? My owner? My tormentor?” He was breathing heavily now, even though he remained staring at his house. “You are so many things that I don’t even know how to process all this!”

He walked slowly towards Simon and then sat by his side.

“Am I not your friend?” He asked, looking genuinely concerned.

“I don’t know. Are you? You treat me and all the others like we’re your slaves, and should be so with a smile on our faces…It’s not right.”

Raphael sighted. Simon was right, and his behavior pushed the younger vampire even further away from him.

“Look…I know that I’m not the easiest person to deal with, but I do realize now that I mistreated you…”

Simon opened his mouse to speak, but Raphael put a gentle hand on his leg to stop him.

“¡Todos ustedes! I suppose that I’m still treating you like she did me, like she did to all of us. And that I am still commanding the same way, but this is no longer her clan, and I see that now. I thought that this was the only way to be a leader, but I was wrong.”

“You are not Camille, Raphael…”

“I’m just…I’m not finish, just…just let me speak.”

Simon nodded with his head and waited for his to go on.

“I know that Clary and Luke are family to you, and I get that you miss your mom and your sister, but you are a vampire now Simon. For better or for worse, you are one of us now. Your place is with the other ones like you. You belong with me…us…” He corrected himself in the last minute.

Simon smiled, even if shyly.

“I guess I could use my still lingering humanity to try and make you less of a robot!”

“I suppose you could!”

Raphael than removed a small box from the inside of his jacket and placed it right between him and Simon. The young vampire watched the object carefully still with a confused expression in his face.

“I was going to give it to you before but you had that little outburst, so…”

“What is it?” he asked, curious.

“ _Abre_!”

Simon carefully picked the small velvety box and brought it close to his face were he could see it more clearly. When he opened he was momentarily blinded by a silvery light, were the moon rays had shine upon the object inside. Staring at him was a intricate and delicate vintage looking ring with a sparkling blue stone in the center. The shock caused him to rise up abruptly, while still staring at the jewelry.

“What…is this..I’m…are you proposing to me?” he asked bluntly without even realizing.

Raphael got up slowly and smoothly while wearing a smug smile on his face.

“Why, would you want me to?”

Simon was at a loss of words. He simply had no idea what was going on. And why was his barely alive heart beating so hard inside his chest?

“It’s for your sister, _idiota!_ ” He laughed. “But you don’t have to look so disappointed, Simon!”

“I’m not! I mean…what stone is this?” He asked already too distracted to remain in topic.

“A sapphire!” Raphael got closer.” A very unique sapphire, actually!”

“How so?” He asked immerse in Raphael’s tone.

“It was lapidated from the sapphire in one pendent that belonged to the Queen Marie of Romania. The pendant itself was completely destroyed to make this ring. You are now holding the only remaining piece of an extremely important part of history!”

“Raphael, I…”

“You might not be able to be your ‘sister’s something borrow, something blue’, but maybe this can…”

Simon just stared at him with tears on his eyes. He could not believe what he had done for him.

“This is…I can’t…”

His brain had ran out of words to say, so his body responded for him and crossed the distance between them and hugged the older vampire tightly. The action startle Raphael, and he didn’t respond the action for a few seconds. When he did though, his arms circled around Simon and he positioned his face in the curve of his neck, savoring a bit of the aroma.

“Thank you! I don’t..I don’t even know what to say! She will love this!”

Simon pulled apart from the hug, and Raphael had to quickly regain his composure. Simon began speaking in the frantic way he did, when he was overly excited, and Raphael couldn’t stop himself from laughing. He was looking at him with pure appreciation, and Raphael had the unstoppable and uncontrollable urge to say that no royal sapphire would ever compare to the amber that he had for eyes.

“So…shall we go then?” He asked once he felt in total control of himself.

“Where?” Simon asked looking at him.

“ _Casa,Simon_. Home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case you were curious, this is the vintage ring that I used as reference:  
> https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/a9/4c/e3/a94ce355bd4e8d3be92d8c1133e21c58.jpg
> 
> and this would be the original stone from Queen Marie:  
> http://www.kings1912.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Queen_Mary_of_Romania_sapphire.jpg
> 
> Besos! <3


End file.
